Frugal farmer leaves $2M to his tiny Pa. church

[BlueJessamine]

Source: AP/KOB.com

AP BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. - It’s like a gift from God.


A tiny church in western Pennsylvania inherited more than $2 million from a farmer who lived in a mobile home.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Sunday that John Ferguson left his entire estate to Hopewell United Methodist Church near the town of Black Lick.

The 71-year-old farmer attended the church before dying in January 2007. The gift has been in probate since then.

The church has just 80 members. Hopewell pastor Jason McQueen says a panel of congregation members will choose projects to be funded annually from the income generated by Ferguson’s estate.


Read more: http://kob.com/article/stories/S695259.shtml?cat=500

[JeanGrey]

1. What a wonderful thing to do....

[willing dwarf]

2. Yes and no...

from my experience with the Quakers in the eastern half of PA, I can say I think the intent and gesture is beuatiful, but the consequences of such a gift often lead the wrong way.

Having an endowment creates a need to watch it with care, and usually brings out the overly vigiliantstewards. Rather than free ing people from the problem of money, it often burdens them, tethers their hopes and imagination to conserving it. They end up serving the wealth rather than putting the wealth to good use.

[FarCenter]

4. Don't worry

The average church board will piss it away in a couple of years.

[undeterred]

7. Debbie Downer is thy name.

[xchrom]

3. recommend

[rasputin1952]

5. I don't know what denomination this is...

but I think, that w/just 80 members, it is a very close-knit organization.

I hope they spend the money wisely and with the best intentions of the Community...O8)

[silverweb]

10. United Methodist.

If I remember correctly, they're quite liberal. I'm hoping they put the money to good use in service of the poor.

[Critters2]

12. Not liberal at all.

It's official position on glbt is "homosexuality is incompatible with the Christian faith". Don't ordain gays, don't support marriage equality. On these issues, the UMC position is exactly the same as the Southern Baptists.

[silverweb]

16. Oh, dear.

I was thinking they were the ones who were running "controversial" TV ads a couple of years ago about inclusiveness. Remember them?

I seem to remember their ads depicting inclusiveness in terms of race, sexual orientation, and the poor. I thought it was the United Methodists. If not, what church am I remembering that ran those ads?

[pepperbear]

21. that was the UCC. n/t

[silverweb]

22. Right! Thank you.

They were wonderful ads.

At least I got the "United" part right. :D

[bitchkitty]

20. Not all of the UMC -

as with every religion, there are progressives in the woodpile! :)

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/17/local/me-methodist17

I suspect that L.A. is a little more progressive than Black Lick, PA!

[Critters2]

23. A tiny minority in the UMC, found in a few conferences. Overall, it's a conservative denom. nt

[Connonym]

6. what a waste of money

It could have done a lot more good at a food bank or a homeless shelter. God really doesn't need the advertising.

[elocs]

8. I suppose that could be said about how anybody chooses to spend their money.

Went to see a movie? Well that money could have done a lot more good at a food bank or a homeless shelter. Bought coffee at Starbuck? Well that money could have done a lot more good at a food bank or a homeless shelter.

How people choose to spend their money is their own business and I certainly would not put down anybody who chose to spend their money in a good way even if it did not perfectly suit me because it is none of my business. I do know that many churches do a lot to feed the hungry or house the homeless, but that does not fit into the cozy stereotype that many have of religion.

[panAmerican]

9. Presume much?

What makes you think that's not what they're gonna do?

Already they have taken steps to perpetuate the gift:

A panel of congregation members will determine annually the projects that will benefit from the income generated from Ferguson's estate. That should be between $75,000 and $100,000 each year, according to documents at the Indiana County Register of Wills.

Furthermore, one of the projects they've chosen to fund so far is something that the deceased himself used to care about:

Church members only recently began distributing proceeds from the estate.

"John liked to visit area cemeteries and was really hurt when he found one in disrepair. So this year, we're targeting several area cemeteries," McQueen said.

You shouldn't have a knee-jerk reaction and assume they're seeking undue attention.

[Connonym]

11. I think religion is a scam

I know that many don't agree with my point of view but I'm still entitled to have it. Certainly a person can donate their money how they wish but cleaning up cemeteries seems pretty frivolous when so many of the living are suffering.

[pop goes the weasel]

13. I see why they are doing it

There are several dozen small cemetaries in the area I'm living in. Most of them are in haphazard shape, to say the least. And the locals get quite depressed about it. It's a constant reminder that they have been abandoned and that no one cares. Cleaning up the cemetaries may seem frivolous, but the psychological benefit to a poor rural area will be quite useful. People need food and housing, but the also need to feel a sense of community and concern for the most unfortunate. And by that, I don't mean the dead, but those elderly who will soon be dead, and who see their friends and family interred in overgrown lots full of decayed markers and sunken graves. For them, this will be a great comfort.

[Connonym]

14. I didn't consider that aspect

point taken

[onager]

17. Well, I agree with you.

:hi:

Back where I came from, in Upstate SC, a local building contractor died a few years ago and left several million dollars to his moderate-sized Baptist church.

It's no longer moderate-sized. His money went for a HUGE new church that looks ridiculously out of scale in the small town where it is located. A real architectural in-your-face statment. It has a state-of-the-art sound and light system, a "Computer & Multimedia Center," and all the bells and whistles usually found in a megachurch. Thought it's not QUITE as big as one of those.

Quite the monument to egotism. He should have just built a pyramid.

I'm a Fundamentalist Atheist myself. And what's your denomination? I'm asking because if you give the wrong answer, I'm declaring an Unholy War on you.

:rofl:

[IndianaGreen]

15. I agree!

The money would do a lot more good at a food bank or homeless shelter. He just bought his pastor a new Cadillac.

[struggle4progress]

18. There are five Hopewell UMCs in PA: this is the one in Blairsville

It's Murtha's district, but it's probably very conservative: McCain carried the county

[Politicalboi]

19. Too bad

He didn't give it to an animal shelter instead.